It would be easy to say that youth and size ultimately prevailed at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Saturday night, and to some extent – perhaps a large extent – that would be correct. But Canelo Alvarez did more than simply impose his strength on a valiant, aging warrior as he overcame Miguel Cotto to win a unanimous points decision and annex the lineal middleweight championship. The 25-year-old Mexican also showed skill and poise that belied his years, particularly in the form of an impressively subtle defense that frustrated Cotto’s efforts to land power punches for much of the night.

Cotto (40-5, KOs 33), started brightly enough, bouncing on his toes and looking to land his vaunted left hook behind a stiff jab, but Canelo telegraphed his intentions for the night with a digging hook to the body and an overhand right that sailed behind Cotto’s left hand and just missed his jaw. In the second, the Alvarez overhand right found its target while Cotto struggled to reach his. Canelo kept himself largely at just the right distance to force the shorter man to stretch with his punches, and deftly moved his head a fraction out of range whenever Cotto threatened to land.

The effectiveness of Canelo’s defense was underlined by the CompuBox punch stats, and particularly the poor success rate of the Cotto jab – the punch off which Cotto’s offense operates. Cotto threw 374 jabs, but connected with just 54 of them, a paltry 14 percent. His power punch figures were somewhat better – 75 of 255 landed, or 29 percent. But Canelo’s power punches were the offensive story of the night, as he landed 118 out of 298, nearly four of every ten he threw.

Indeed, from early in the contest, as Cotto sought to circle and box behind the jab, Alvarez focused almost exclusively on power punches, ripping left hooks and overhand rights from mid-distance. And while Cotto blocked many of them early, those that made their way through landed with authority.

Cotto remained undeterred even after Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) began to impose himself. The veteran decided to alter his tactics, step into the danger zone, and fire off combinations before moving out of the way. To at least some at ringside, that created the impression that Cotto was succeeding in winning battles by scoring with flurries, even if the overall feeling remained that Canelo’s heavier punches were winning the war. The problem for Cotto was that his punches largely bounced off Alvarez, whereas the Mexican’s always seemed to carry more weight.

By round 8, Alvarez was marching forward without evident concern for what was coming in the opposite direction. He was by now finding success not only with his overhand right, but also with a short uppercut that exploded off Cotto’s jaw with increasing frequency as the Puerto Rican moved closer.

Cotto to his immense credit, remained willing to brawl, but continued to come off second best in the exchange of power punches. Entering the final round, Alvarez was unreachable on all three scorecards, but neither man knew that as they both laid it all on the line with a series of furious exchanges. A left hook from Alvarez appeared to hurt Cotto, who retreated and seemed content to make it to the final bell, until he suddenly uncorked a pair of hooks of his own as the final bell rang.

Even those ringside who saw it as a close contest scored it for Alvarez, and so did the three judges, who had it 117-111, 118-110 and 119-109.

The wide spread of the scores upset Cotto and his trainer Freddie Roach.

“Wow!” was Cotto’s sole comment on the cards. After the decision was made, Cotto went right to Freddie and said, "Are you OK? That’s all that matters."“We thought it was much closer than the scorecards showed, added Roach. “It was a very competitive fight.”

“I have a lot of respect for Miguel,” said Alvarez. “He is a great champion and a great fighter. We knew going into this fight that it would be a difficult journey, but I feel that I was the faster and stronger fighter tonight. I wasn’t hurt by his punches.”

In a sign of the mutual respect shown by both men throughout the promotion, Canelo went to Cotto’s locker room afterward, hugged Cotto’s family and team and said to the dethroned veteran: “I admire you.”

UPCOMING FIGHTS

INSTAGRAM

After scoring a 2nd-round knockdown, @jorgelinares fought off a resolute @luke11campbell to retain his titles in a split-decision victory. #LinaresCampbell

In a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle, @jorgelinares overcomes a gutsy rally from @luke11campbell to earn a split-decision victory and defend his lightweight titles. #LinaresCampbell

Fight night STARTS NOW with the exclusive replay of @canelo vs. @gggboxing followed immediately by live boxing featuring the lightweight title bout between @jorgelinares and @luke11campbell.
Tune in now to HBO World Championship Boxing. #CaneloGGG #LinaresCampbell

Will @luke11campbell take home @jorgelinares' title belts tonight?
Tune in to HBO World Championship Boxing at 10 PM ET/PT for the exclusive replay of #CaneloGGG followed immediately by #LinaresCampbell.

@jorgelinares puts his lightweight titles on the line against @luke11campbell on Saturday.
Will Campbell be ready? Tune in to HBO at 10 PM ET/PT. #LinaresCampbell

"Andre Ward ends his boxing career as he only knew how to live it -- as a champion at the top. To watch Ward was to marvel at constant mastery of craft in the ring, to say nothing of his being the consummate role model outside it. The Hall of Fame will be lucky to have him.
"We wish Andre and his family much success and happiness as he explores new opportunities, including with our own HBO family as one of the expert analysts on our broadcast team.
"It was a privilege for HBO to serve as the television platform for many of his landmark achievements in the sport he loves." - Peter Nelson, Executive Vice President, HBO Sports

Saturday: Watch three-division world champ @jorgelinares defend his lightweight titles against hard-hitting rising star @luke11campbell.
Tune in to @HBO World Championship Boxing Saturday at 10 PM ET/PT for the replay of #CaneloGGG followed by #LinaresCampbell.

A fight that was years in the making exceeded all expectations. #CaneloGGG